Land Power& Sustainable Agriculture and African Americans A collection of essays from the 2007 Black Environmental Thought conference edited by Jeffrey L. Jordan Edward Pennick Walter A. Hill Robert Zabawa Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Land Power& Sustainable Agriculture and African Americans A collection of essays from the 2007 Black Environmental Thought Conference Edited by Jeffrey L. Jordan, Edward Pennick, Walter A. Hill, and Robert Zabawa First Edition Published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, with funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. DepartmentAbout SAREof Agriculture SARE is a grant making and outreach program. Its mission is to advance—to the whole of American agriculture—innovations that improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life by investing in groundbreaking research and education. For more information about SARE’s grant making program and information products, visit www.sare.org or contact: SARE Outreach Associate 10300 Baltimore Ave., BARC, Bldg. 046 Beltsville, MD 20705 [email protected] (301) 504-5236 SARE Regions North Central Alaska Northeast West Guam CNMI South FSM Hawaii AS USVI PR Size and placement not to scale SARE’s four regional offices and outreach office work to advance sustainable innovations to the whole of American agriculture. 155 This book was published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program under cooperative agreements with USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, University of Maryland and University of Vermont. Online: Visit www.sare.org. By check or purchase order: Make payable to Sustainable Agriculture Publications and send to Sustainable Agriculture Publications P.O. Box 753 Waldorf, MD 20604-0753 The book costs $10.00 + $5.95 s/h (within USA). Add $2 s/h for each additional book shipped within USA. For questions or bulk, international or credit card orders, call: (301) 374-9696 or visit www.sare.org. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Black Environmental Thought Conference (2007 : Tuskegee University) Land and power : sustainable agriculture and African Americans : a collection of essays from the 2007 Black Environmental Thought Conference / edited by Jeffrey L. Jordan ... [et al.] -- 1st ed. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-888626-14-8 1. African American agricultural laborers--United States--History--Congresses. 2. African American farmers--United States--History--Congresses. 3. Land reform--United States--History--Congresses. 4. Sustainable agriculture--United States--History--Congresses. 5. Human ecology--History--Congresses. I. Jordan, Jeffrey L. II. Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (Program) III. Title. HD8081.A65B523 2009 338.1089'96073--dc22 2009027715 ISBN: 978-1-888626-14-8 Every effort has been made to make this book as accurate as possible. The editors, authors and publisher disclaim any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise that is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book. The views and opinions presented in the articles, essays and poems contained in this book do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of USDA, the SARE program, or the book's editors. Mention, visual representation or inferred reference of a product, service, manufacturer or organization in this publication does not imply endorsement by USDA, the SARE program or the authors. Exclusion does not imply a negative evaluation. Project Manager: Jeffrey L. Jordan Editors: Jeffrey L. Jordan, Edward Pennick, Walter A. Hill, Robert Zabawa Production Manager: Dena Leibman Copy Editing: Mason Chapple Graphic Design: Joanne Shipley Printing: House of Printing in Burtonsville, Maryland. Printed using wind power on process-chlorine- free, 100% post-consumer-waste paper Cover photos: Top right: by Dr. John C. Mayne. Dr. Owusu Bandele with his Southern SARE soil solarization project. Bottom left: by Marion Post Wolcott. Tim Forehand’s wife Minnie scratching Irish potatoes out of their garden patch. Flint River Farms, Georgia.” May 1939. Library of Congress call number: LC-USF34-051831-D. Bottom right: by Marion Post Wolcott. Harvesting Lonnie Smith’s oats with Will Miller’s binder. Farm supervisor A. M. Fields is directing the work. Flint River Farms, Georgia. May 1939. Library of Congress call number: LC-USF34-051829-D. 2 Table of Contents Sustainable Agriculture and African Americans: Land and Power ................. 5–9 Jeffrey L. Jordan, Edward “Jerry” Pennick, Walter A. Hill, and Robert Zabawa George Washington Carver: A Blazer of Trails to a Sustainable Future ..........11–32 John S. Ferrell York, Harriet, and George: Writing African American Ecological Ancestors......................................................................................................................33–56 Kimberly N. Ruffin The Transformation of George Washington Carver’s Environmental Vision, 1896–1918 ...................................................................................................... 57–76 Mark D. Hersey The Holy Land Is All the Earth ......................................................................................77 Louis Alemayehu The Deep Roots of Our Land-Based Heritage: Cultural, Social, Political, and Environmental Implications ..........................................................................79–92 Owusu Bandele Theoretical and Historical Perspectives on Agroecology and African American Farmers: Toward a Culturally Relevant Sustainable Agriculture ................................................................................................................. 93–107 Kwasi Densu The Physical and Social Environment of African American Agricultural Communities of the New Deal Resettlement Administration ................... 109–132 Tasha M. Hargrove and Robert Zabawa Mrs. Block Beautiful: African American Women and the Birth of the Urban Conservation Movement, Chicago, IL, 1917–1954 ............................133–152 Sylvia Hood Washington Preserving African-American Rural Property: An Assessment of Intergenerational Values Toward Land ...........................................................153–173 Edward “Jerry” Pennick, Heather Gray, and Miessha N. Thomas PachaMaMa Got the Blues .................................................................................... 174–177 Louis Alemayehu African American Environmentalism: Issues and Trends for Teaching, Research, and Extension ..................................................................................... 179–205 Clyde E. Chesney, PhD Environmental Thought and Activism: An 1890 Land-Grant University Perspective ..............................................................................................................207–214 Walter A. Hill Power in the Blood .........................................................................................................215 Louis Alemayehu Authors ................................................................................................................................216 3 AboutAbout SARESARE SARESARE is a grant is a making grant andmaking outreach and program. outreach Its mission program. is to Itsadvance—to mission theis to whole advance—to of American agriculture—innovationsthe whole of American that improve agriculture—innovations profitability, stewardship that and improvequality of lifeprofitability, by investing in groundbreakingstewardship research and andquality education. of life by investing in groundbreaking research and education. For more information about SARE’s grant making program and information products, visit www.sare.org For more information about SARE‘sor grant contact: making program and information products, visit www.sare.org orSARE contact: Outreach Associate 10300SARE Baltimore Outreach Ave., BARC, Associate Bldg. 046 Beltsville, MD 20705 10300 [email protected] Ave., BARC, Bldg. 046 Beltsville,(301) 504-5236 MD 20705 [email protected] • (301) 504-5236 SARE Regions North Central Alaska Northeast West Guam CNMI South FSM Hawaii AS USVI PR Size and placement not to scale SARE’s fourSARE’s regional four officesregional officesand outreach and outreach office office work towork advance sustainable innovations to the whole of American agriculture. to advance sustainable innovations to the whole of American agriculture. 155 Other SARE titles you might be interested in: Books: The New American Farmer, 2nd Edition, 200-pp Bulletins: Meeting the Diverse Needs of Limited-Resource Farmers, 16 pp For more information on SARE books, bulletins and online materials: visit www.sare.org 4 Sustainable Agriculture and African Americans: Land and Power Jeffrey L. Jordan, Edward “Jerry” Pennick, Walter A. Hill, and Robert Zabawa Because a story is story, you may tell it as your imagination and your being and your environment dictate. —Nelson Mandela, Favorite African Folktales, 2002 In May 2007, the Southern region of the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (S-SARE) sponsored a conference at Tuskegee University entitled Black Environmental Thought: Land, Power and Sustainability (co-sponsored by the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, Tuskegee University, Fort Valley State University, the University of Georgia and the AfroEco Group). The conference was the result of a grant proposal submitted by the Federation of Southern Cooperatives to the S-SARE program. While the grant was not funded in its